Mission: Possible
by littlesheep
Summary: Can't we just lock them up in a room and throw away the key? a reviewer asked a while ago for another story of mine. That made me think. Here's the result. No spoilers, pure SMacked as always. Final chapter up now  COMPLETE. [StellaMac]
1. Chapter 1

**I promised you another short one while you're waiting for the updates on "Members Only" and "Picking up the Pieces" - here it is. It's not gonna be too long and not much suspense - just a little something out of an inspiration I got from a comment in a review to "If Love Would Be Easy". Song lyrics in this story are from Bon Jovi's "Love Me Back To Life".**

**Check out if you like it and let me know :-)**

**Disclaimer**: All the original characters belong to their owners - except for Mac. **Mac belongs to Stella**.

-

_Chapter 1_

"Mac, what's going on with you lately?" Stella asked when he entered the room and turned to his locker without even looking over to her.

"What do you mean?" he replied edgily.

"You seem a little … distracted," she determined, keeping her eyes on his movements.

"I'm fine."

He focused on his locker and rearranged stuff from one side to the other to avoid meeting her intense gaze that he could feel on his back.

"I told you... I'm fine!" he snapped when he realized that she wouldn't let go.

"Right…" Stella mumbled, the tone in her voice making more than clear that she didn't believe him for one second.

_Damn! How does she always do that? She reads me like an open book, no matter how hard I try to hide. This is almost scary – and she always manages to make me furious by not letting it just go…_

"LEAVE IT ALONE!" he finally exclaimed. "It's none of your business, why don't you just take care of your own things?"

Stella's eyes narrowed.

-

_This world don't give you nothing it can't take away  
Everybody holding on to something  
Nobody wants to fade away  
_

_  
_That's it – enough was enough. She slowly approached him, her eyes fixating on his. Mac wasn't sure how to react, so he did nothing but watch her coming closer. When she was close enough, she pushed him back against the locker with her right hand on his chest.

"You think you can do anything here, right? You believe because you're the boss everyone, including me, should just ask 'How high?' if you order us to jump, huh? Questions not wanted, complaints or arguments not accepted? That's not how it works, buddy!"

Her face was only inches from his, her body almost pressing him into the locker behind him.

"If you don't like it that I care about you – then I'm sorry. But in that case you will just learn to live with it because that's not going to stop, whether you like it or not – and don't even think about answering back now," she finished with a long, deep look into his eyes before she closed his lips with an almost aggressive, yet passionate kiss.

"Think about it!" she breathed heavily when she let go of him after what seemed to him like an eternity.

Without turning around, she headed out.

Outside, she ran into Danny who was on his way to change after court. He followed her with a puzzled look, then shook his head and entered the locker room where he found a pretty confused Mac who was still leaning against the lockers with a perplexed look on his face.

-

_No forgiveness on the streets of this town  
I left my patience at a traffic light  
There's no denying that I almost lost it  
Threw in the towel, too tired to fight_

_-  
_

"You alright?" Danny wondered, looking back to the door, wondering if Stella's hasty leaving had something to do with Mac's condition.

Mac stared at him for a moment, then vaguely nodded and turned to leave the room without a word. Danny looked after him and shook his head. Those two weren't behaving normally. Of that, he was absolutely sure.

XXXXX

When Danny returned to the lab several minutes later, Flack quickly approached him in the corridor with a relieved expression on his face.

"Thank God you're here!" he exclaimed.

"Where's the fire?" Danny asked puzzled.

"Mac's office, he and Stella have been fighting like cats and dogs for several minutes and I think if we don't do anything to stop them…"

"Yeah, right. CSI all over the place… – no good," Danny figured. "Alright then, let's go. You wearing your bullet proof vest?"

Flack smirked slightly as they headed for Mac's office to prevent the worst.

XXXXX

"OH-KAY!" Flack announced loudly after he and Danny entered Mac's office, trying to interrupt the argument and get some attention.

"Now, why don't we two sweethearts go and check the coroner's report," he turned to Stella and put an arm around her shoulders, carefully guiding her away from Mac and out of the office.

"And us guys have another look at the evidence," Danny addressed to Mac. "Trace just brought in some new test results."

Mac took a deep breath and released it through his nostrils. Then he nodded. He was well aware that his fighting with Stella at the lab was anything but appropriate behavior to say the least. Yet he still couldn't help it. Somehow both of them seemed to be pretty agitated lately. And her little 'attack' in the locker room had been…

He shook his head in an attempt to get his thoughts straight again.

"I dunno what you said to her, but I'm glad I'm not in your shoes. You better apologize to her … and soon," Danny mumbled.

"ME???" Mac fumed. "I'm not the one who crossed the line! Why is it always that I am the one who has to apologize? The thought that Stella did something wrong wouldn't cross anyone's mind, right?"

Danny lowered his head and shrugged lightly. Better not to push this anymore for now. But someone had to do something. There had to be a reason for this persistent fighting – and a solution to end it for good.

They studied the evidence they had spread out on the table in front of them in silence until something caught Mac's attention.

"That's it! I knew it looked strangely familiar. There was a case about 15 years ago, back when I started here at the Crime Lab. Same MO and everything," he explained.

"15 years? Gee, those files won't even be in the system, we need to go down to the basement and dig through tons of dusty cardboard boxes and folders…" Danny complained.

"I will go, I guess you need to finish some reports anyway if I'm not completely wrong," Mac gave him a pensive look.

Danny sighed. Speak of having to choose from two evils… Then an idea shot into his brain out of the blue.

"Alright, you go – I'll be on those reports, you'll have them on your desk by the end of the shift!"

"Right," Mac wondered about Danny's sudden enthusiasm for paper work. "In case someone is looking for me, tell them I'll be back in an hour. Cell phones and pagers won't work in the basement."

"Yeah, I know…" Danny replied, trying to sound non-committal.

His mind was already working on a mission.

XXXXX

"Should Mac be worried? You can forge his writing pretty well, when even Stella can't notice the difference…" Lindsay joked after Stella had informed her that she would be in the basement for a while because Mac had written her a note to meet him there to check on some old files.

"Just one of the many dubious skills I acquired during my rough and tumble childhood," Danny smirked mischievously.

Lindsay gave him an eye roll and shook her head.

"So, what's the plan now? You really believe it's such a good idea to put them together where there's nobody to intervene if things get outta hand?" she doubtfully asked. "What if they are at each other's throat and…"

_That's not exactly where I expect their hands to be actually…_

"They won't be," he firmly declared. "And I sorta hope things WILL get outta hand…"

"What?" Lindsay replied confused. "You don't expect them to argue down there where nobody can hear them if that's almost all they did the last few days even up here??"

"Not if the door is locked for hours and there is no light down there, I don't…" he mysteriously returned.

"DANNY MESSER!" Lindsay exclaimed in shocked surprise. "You can't possibly…"

"Watch me!" he grinned and quickly headed for the elevator.

TBC

-

**Okay, your turn ;-)**

**xxxlittlesheepxxx **


	2. Chapter 2

**If I wouldn't be so busy with replying to reviews all the time - I would be able to post faster ;-) Just kidding, don't stop reviewing! Thanks SO much, I can't believe this, you are fabulous.**

**I have a little personal request here - certainly you all heard about the fires in California and I think we should all cross fingers that the situation is getting better real soon. My best friend Mitch - the one who also reviews and cross-checks my stories (to him you owe the fact that there are mostly no spelling mistakes ...) and always listens to my endless babbling about my stories prior to finishing them lives in San Diego, pretty close to the fires. Now it seems his house is safe - let's cross a few more fingers for him and all the other people (I know you read this, Mitch... ;-)). Hopefully none of you guys is personally affected (or family, relatives etc.). Sorry, but I had to write this here, hope you don't mind :-)**

**Let's move on with the story! I have to explain something... I tried to do something different. I wanted to write Mac aggressive. You will see that I failed. Why? It's Mac - he is not aggressive. I just couldn't. I tried... but ended up in some sort of hurt/comfort moment again ;-) But I know you like that, don't you?**

**_Lyrics still from Bon Jovi's "Love Me Back To Life"_**

**_- _ **

_Chapter 2_

Stella shivered slightly when she walked the stairs towards the basement. Even after many years she still got the creeps down here. There were several large storage rooms, all filled with various things – evidence from unsolved cases, files and folders that hadn't been archived yet, even preserved body parts and other 'memorabilia' that hadn't found a better place, were held down here.

Why the hell did Mac need her to come down here? If he was looking for something, he could just as well do that on his own and talk to her later.

She sighed when she reached the door to the large file archive. Actually it was rather like a catacomb. Without ever having been to one, Stella pictured the wine storage cellars in old castles like this. A very long, very dark and very uncomfortable place.

Tattered folders with yellowed papers, spider webs – she didn't even want to _think_ about their creators – and dust everywhere. The only external light came only from several very small windows above head level. The very dim light bulbs on the ceiling were nearly useless. Light – no matter whether natural or artificial – was said to be not good for the old documents.

Great. If only the documents felt comfortable with the ambience here…

Stella entered the room, leaving the door open a little bit. Then she started walking around after her eyes had adjusted to the half-light. She couldn't see anyone and the scraping and rustling sounds could also be … rats. Urgh. This was getting better and better. But when she got closer to the source of the sounds, she figured that they were made by someone turning pages in a folder and rummaging through boxes. Phew.

She started walking a little faster, so that he would hear the steps approaching him without getting startled by her sudden appearance. When she reached him, Mac looked up in surprise.

"Stella? What are you doing down here?"

"What am I…? Mac, the only reason I'm down here is that you wanted to see me!?" she returned confused.

"I wanted what? Not that I recall," he answered while he put a folder back into its place.

Stella's mood wasn't exactly improving and his apparent obliviousness made her even more furious.

"Great. Then I'm outta here," she announced and turned to leave again.

"Wait!" Mac called after her.

She stopped and turned to face him.

"What else?"

"What makes you think I wanted to see you – down here?" he wondered.

"The note you wrote and put on my desk?" she raised her eyebrows at him.

"I haven't even been anywhere near your office today…" he denied pensively. "I have no idea what you're talking about, I don't know about any note."

"So who would have written that damned note if not you?"

"How am I supposed to know, I did NOT write it!"

They stared at each other for a moment, then both of them realized at the same time.

"Messer!" Stella cursed. "He is SO dead…"

"Danny??" Now Mac was completely lost. "But how could he…"

"Eh, who cares?! He won't live long enough to explain that…" Stella foamed and turned around again, heading for the door, when suddenly at the opposite end of the long room, about 40 meters from where they were standing…

_WHOMPPP!!!_

"What the hell?!"

They quickly walked over to find the door closed. After a brief glance at him, Stella tried the handle.

"Mac…," she mumbled, "the door won't open…"

Mac wasn't sure if it would be better to try to calm her – or not.

Stella turned around again and started to kick against the door.

"That won't do us any good, nobody will hear us down here," he tried as civilly as possible.

"Fabulous."

She went silent for a moment, then "So am I supposed to spend the entire night here until the janitor happens to show up again in the morning or what?!"

"You're not alone with this problem, Stella," Mac snapped.

"Brilliant."

When she turned around without another word, he finally lost his patience. He approached her with two quick steps and grabbed for her arm to turn her around. Stella stumbled backwards against the wall behind her in surprise.

"What are you doing, Mac?!?" she exclaimed while she struggled to free herself from his grip.

"Just trying to get you to talk with me," he tried to remain calm.

He held her arms pinned against the wall along her sides, his body only inches away from hers. She could feel his warmth on her skin as his eyes explored hers intensely. A mixture of frustration, anger and fear floated through her veins. She had never seen him like this before, there was something in his eyes, in his powerful grip that scared her. But this was Mac, for God's sake. He would never, he couldn't… What she realized though was that she had not the slightest chance to escape him, not if he didn't want to let her go.

Another deep, intense look into her eyes. His face only millimeters away. Without letting go of her arms, he pressed her back against the wall and covered her lips with his in an aggressive, forceful kiss.

For a moment Stella couldn't breathe. She was startled by the level of his aggression but at the same time, she found herself turned on by his desire. Again she tried to fight him off, but without any success. Despite the fury that wanted to build in her and the still upcoming feeling of helplessness, she also felt some kind of rush and excitement.

The same kind she had felt when she had kissed him earlier in the locker room. Only then she was in the offense and her only advantage had been the surprise effect.

This was going all wrong here now…

"Stop, Mac!" she shouted at him when she finally managed to turn her face away to the side. "You are scaring me!" She didn't want to admit it, but the words just escaped her mouth without asking for permission.

"Don't be scared," he soothed her, trying to keep his voice calm despite his racing heartbeat and breath. "I'm not gonna hurt you. I would never hurt you!"

"You're hurting me now…" she whispered quietly.

All of a sudden he released her arms and almost stumbled backwards. His face displaying shock and bewilderment about his own behavior. Stella slid down and on the floor, her back leaning against the wall. Emotions from shock, surprise, anger, fear, relief, excitement were chasing each other in her mind.

"It's going to snow," she remarked absentmindedly, her eyes staring out of the small above head window at the wall to her right. She was shivering visibly. It was cold and uncomfortable in the basement.

-

_Tonight I need you  
More than yesterday  
Tonight I need you  
_

_-_

Mac watched her sitting on the floor next to him, unsure about what to do now. Would she allow him to assure her it was all a terrible mistake? Accept his apology for being a total moron? Let him make her feel better?

He could see her breath in the cool basement air. No matter how mad he had been at her, or how hurt she was now, he couldn't stand seeing her suffer.

"Take my jacket," he softly said, not to startle her.

He took off his jacket and carefully placed it around her shoulders. She looked up at him and gave him a careful, but grateful smile while she wrapped the jacket tightly around her body. It felt warm, it smelled like him. Stella closed her eyes for a moment and inhaled the scent that made her feel better immediately. This was him – he made her feel safe. No matter what.

-

_Take me, touch me, hold me like you mean it  
Make me come alive  
Hurt me, heal me, come and make me feel it  
Rescue me tonight  
Love me back to life_

_-  
_

When he noticed that she had calmed down and stopped trembling, Mac lowered himself next to her on the floor.

"I'm terribly sorry about what happened, Stella," he started. His voice still showing the inability to understand his own behavior. "I can't tell you how much. I don't know what came over me, I just – I lost it… I never meant to hurt you – or to scare you. That is the last thing I would ever want. I want to be there for you, protect you from anything bad, I can't explain why I did this. I know you must think I'm a total fool and you would never think about someone like me in this way, but…"

-

_These days I'd trade sight for feeling  
There are days my feeling's gone  
Can't figure out whose life I'm living  
I don't know right from wrong_

_-  
_

"Mac Taylor…" Her voice was so soft that he almost couldn't hear her. It had a threatening, warning undertone in it, but he knew instantly how she meant it. "Don't you dare EVER say that! In all those years that we've known each other, you should know me better than that."

"Let me kiss you," he said hoarsely as he moved closer to her. "Let me show you how it can be between us. Please, may I kiss you?"

His face was only inches from hers, his eyes hot and pleading. She looked at him, her emerald green eyes softly moving over his tensed face, his worried, yet hopeful eyes.

Yes or no?

TBC

-

**xxxlittlesheepxxx**


	3. Chapter 3

**My apologies for keeping you waiting "a little"... Well, here it is - the final chapter for this little intermediate story. Thanks SO much for the great response, you guys are the best!!! Thanks for all the reviews and alerts so far, you make this all worthwile :-)**

**Song lyrics of course still "Love Me Back To Life" by Bon Jovi.**

-

_Chapter 3_

She moved a little closer.

Yes? Maybe?

And closer.

Yes!

She gently touched his face as she had longed to do for weeks, letting her fingertips move across his cheeks, along his jaw, over his sensitive lips…

Mac reached for Stella's arm, stopping her from caressing his face and pulled her closer to him. One more look into her eyes assured him that it was okay to move on. His lips found hers again, this time in a sweet, consensual kiss which slowly deepened and grew more and more intense.

She moaned softly when his tongue touched her lips, asking for permission to explore further. Very carefully and gently, he pushed her back against the wall while she started to undo the first buttons of his shirt.

"Sure??" he doubtfully asked, unable to believe this was really happening.

The look in her eyes, the smile she gave him, her hands on his body, everything told him he wasn't dreaming. This was real. He was in heaven.

Stella slowly undid his zipper and moved her hands down his back, pulling him closer to her after she had gotten up from the floor and straddled his lap. Mac groaned with obvious pleasure. She wanted to feel more and more of him. She loved the feeling of his tight chest and shoulder muscles under her fingers and the feeling of his hands and lips everywhere on her skin.

He dropped his hands along her spine to support her as he tilted her back so that his mouth could find her breasts. She closed her eyes and gasped quietly. This was just feeling so good, so right…

_-_

_  
When I lost my faith  
You found it and gave it back to me  
There's a new light on your halo_

_It took blind eyes to see  
_

_That I need you  
More than yesterday  
Yeah, I need you  
_

-

XXXXX

A tender smile stretched across Mac's face. He wrapped his arms tighter around her waist and snuggled up against her side. He watched her sleep in his arms with a loving look. He still couldn't believe it.

_How had this happened?_

"Is everything alright?" Stella asked sleepily as she snuggled up against Mac, still wrapped up in his jacket.

He was freezing, but didn't want to let her know. She gave him another questioning look, then leaned closer for a kiss.

She cuddled up closer to him, her body warm against his, taking away the clammy feeling that had held him in its embrace, and gave him a tender smile. Then her look suddenly turned thoughtful.

"What is it?"

"Where does this leave us, Mac?"

Insecurity, hope and vulnerability evident from the sound in her voice.

"I thought I showed you?" he said softly, brushing a strand of curls from her cheek.

"A girl needs to hear it," she quietly asked him to voice his feelings.

He didn't need any time to think, to clear his throat, to swallow. There was only one thing he could tell her and this was the easiest and most natural thing to say.

"I love you, Stella," he said in a clear, determined voice, full of overwhelming feelings for her. "With all my heart and everything I have, for now – and forever."

She closed her eyes for a moment, letting the words wash over her. When she opened them again, they were clouded and she lightly shook her head, trying to blink back the tears. She didn't say a word, but her smile said more than enough to calm his rising fear. Everything would be good between them now. Everything. He pulled her closer into his arms to keep her warm – and to warm himself.

"Go back to sleep, we won't get out here for a while…" he said as he tenderly stroked her hair.

"I love you, too, Mac," she mumbled as she snuggled up to him.

The warmth of his body and the smell of his skin caused a tingly feeling in her. She leaned against him, feeling safe. Feeling at home.

She smiled and closed her eyes, letting a relaxing sleep take over.

He pressed his lips together as a single tear escaped his right eye and slowly rolled down his cheek.

XXXXX

They woke up by a noise from the door and quickly jumped up and arranged their clothes before Brian Walker, the janitor of the lab building, entered the room. He jumped startled and placed his right hand over his heart.

"Sweet Lord…" he breathed. "I didn't expect anyone to be in here. You are quite early today, aren't you?"

"Good morning, Brian," Mac greeted him, trying to keep a serious composure. "Actually we are rather late than early. We had to look for some old files yesterday evening and then the door fell shut and got stuck, so we couldn't get out and had to spend the night here."

Brian looked at him and then laughed out loud.

"What's so funny?" Stella wondered.

"Um, the door wasn't stuck… it was locked," he carefully responded.

Stella and Mac shared a skeptical look.

"Why was it … _locked_??"

He shrugged.

"Dunno. Somebody must have locked it, maybe thought there was nobody in and …"

"Messer!" Stella suddenly screamed. "When I get a hold of that lousy good for nothing..."

Mac put his hand on her shoulder to calm her.

"Thanks for letting us out, Brian," he nodded at the janitor, then quickly followed Stella to the stairway.

"You really wanna punish him for what happened?"

"Never," she smiled lovingly. "Not for what happened or that it happened. But I wanna make him suffer for planning it in the first place…"

XXXXX

"Morning, Stella!" Lindsay cheerfully greeted her after they had returned to their floor.

"Hi Lindsay," Stella smiled at her. Then she spotted Danny behind her, sitting at the table in the break room.

"Daniel Messer…" she calmly said as she slowly approached him.

The threatening tone in her voice hadn't slipped his attention. He tried to jump up and hastily looked for something to say.

"Hey!? Stella, um, uh, um, how ya doin'? I, uh, was just trying to call you, couldn't find you yesterday to tell you about--"

She put her hand on his shoulder and pushed him back into his chair.

"_Guess_ where I was?!?"

He was trying to play cool, knowing very well that he was doomed to die right here and right now.

"I … dunno," he threw a glance at Mac, seeking help.

Mac shrugged at him. He knew best that it wasn't recommended to interrupt her now.

"You know what 'Apocalypse' means?" Stella asked in a threatening tone.

"Something about 'The Last Day', right?" Lindsay wondered, trying to help Danny by lightning the atmosphere a little. "I think it started in a little village called Armageddon."

"Hey, wasn't that where Bruce Willis used to hang out?" Danny wondered.

Stella rolled her eyes in frustration while Mac fought hard to suppress a loud laughter.

"Let's get outta here!" she sighed.

Mac quickly agreed and followed her.

Danny breathed a sigh of relief before a very broad grin crossed his face from one ear to the other.

"What is going on here?" Lindsay wondered.

"My work is done. Mission accomplished," he return mysteriously and very satisfied with himself.

The End

-

**Hope you liked it :-) Let me know! Next one on the schedule will be "Members Only" - watch out and check my other stuff if you haven't already. If you have - well, then just watch out #ggg# Thanks for everything - you are the best!  
**

**xxxlittlesheepxxx**


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